Melting the Ice
by Jack's Sierra Rose
Summary: When Loki came to earth for the Tesseract and world domination he never expected to meet someone who could potentially ruin his plans.
1. I am Loki of Asgard

_**As the wonderful Mr. Hiddleston has mentioned many times I believe Loki just needs some love! What if when he came to earth for the Tesseract he found someone who accepted him?**_

"I am Loki of Asgard. And I am burdened with glorious purpose."

Nick Fury and Rose Winters stood in shock as they watched Agent Barton and Erik Selvig assist this strange man.

"Clint what do you think you're doing?" Rose tried to go to him despite being held back by Nick. Loki turned to her and pointed his staff in her direction.

"He is doing what I command." Loki said smoothly. "You could be a useful addition to my work." He added as an afterthought placing his staff on her chest but before anything could happen Nick pulled her away, simultaneously shooting at the God only to be hit by one of Clint's bullets.

After that everything seemed to happen at once, the entire building started to crumble around them, Selvig grabbed the Tesseract while Clint grabbed Rose pulling her along with them. She struggled against him, yelling obscenities towards Loki who turned to look at her, surveying her for a moment before nodding to Clint. Then everything went black.

When Rose awoke she surveyed her surroundings and was surprised to find that she was not bound, however the room she was in had nothing but the pillow under her head and the door seemed astonishingly thick. She was pulling at the lock as the door suddenly opened, Loki standing on the other side of it.

"Are you ready to obey my orders yet?" His voice held a mocking tone as the door slammed shut behind him.

"I will never obey you." She was surprised by the hoarseness of her voice, but stood her ground despite the fact she had never felt weaker. A smile spread across Loki's face as he stood back to observe her once again.

"Oh you are stubborn. I am Loki of Asgard I…"

"I know exactly who you are. You have already announced yourself, you are burdened with glorious purpose." She said in a mocking tone. "I don't care, you are an intruder to this world and I assume you intend to cause havoc for no reason other than your own gain, and I will not let that happen."

Loki was stunned. He was rarely interrupted, and never by a human. Words were his speciality and yet at this moment his was silence. He regained his composure making sure his features did not betray his feelings.

"You are locked inside my quarters how do you intend to stop me? I have powers beyond your comprehension." He sneered.

"Perhaps, but from your reaction I can guess you've never had someone outwit you before. A bit of a silver tongue?" Loki flinched at her words remembering the time they had been sneered to him on the Bifrost Bridge. "Oh don't you like that name? You may be a God but you're just as weak as any human, your reaction proved that."

Before she could say another word Loki had pinned her to the wall in anger the sharp edge of his staff positioned against her neck.

"Mock me now!" He spat in her face pressing a little harder. She gulped as she looked up at him and really saw him for the first time. He was handsome. She couldn't deny that. Combined with his gift of speech he was indeed dangerous. Her eyes met his to find tears threatening to spill from his bright green eyes. Her stern gazed softened and her brows furrowed. Why would a God be close to tears?

While she was examining him Loki was doing the same to her. How dare she speak to him in this way? She was substantially shorter than him, the top of her head barely reaching his chin. It was almost comical how such a small person could silence the God. Her black hair fell in waves to her shoulders making her skin look practically white. She was beautiful, despite being human and as he looked into her deep brown eyes he noticed her expression change to one of confusion.

"Why are you crying?" She whispered. Loki felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach. No one asked about him, he was Thor's little brother. The bitterness was still there no matter how hard he tried to hide it. His anger got the better of him as he switched the staff with his hand squeezing her slim neck.

"I do not cry. I am not weak like you mortals. How dare you suggest such a thing?" He was right against her now as she gasped for breath and clawed at his hand. In his rage he hadn't noticed that he had lifted her off the ground.

Rose could barely focus as the room span around her, with what little strength she had she kicked his shin as hard as she could, causing him to release her and step back. She fell hard, putting her hands out to stop her head hitting the ground. She stayed in that position breathing heavily; not moving for fear the room would turn black again.

Loki was in no pain. His armour had protected him sufficiently, it was the shock that she would attempt such a thing, and that his anger had sent him into such a flurry that he was unaware of his actions. That was Thor's reaction, not his. He was collected, rational. Without another word he left the room to calm himself.


	2. Rose Winters

The next day Rose was escorted to a different part of wherever she was. The guards moved quickly and despite her usual swiftness she struggled to keep up with them. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten, as all they'd allowed her in her prison was a few glasses of water. When they sat her at a table with a plate full of food in front of her and told her to go ahead she didn't stop to assess the situation as she usually would and instead ate as much as she could. If it was poisoned she didn't care.

Loki stood outside the room watching her. There was nothing special about her, when pushed to her limits she succumbed to human instinct and dismissed the idea of danger. He would have been able to withstand the temptation long enough to make sure he wasn't being tricked, but then that's how his mind worked. Always looking out for the catch.

When she'd finished he went and sat opposite her.

"Thank you."

"What for?" Loki was confused, he had imprisoned her and starved her for nearly a week now and she was thanking him. He thought he understood humans.

"Not poisoning the food." Her mouth twitched into the smallest of smiles. If he had blinked he would have missed it.

"I was tempted." He narrowed his eyes leaning forward. "I believe you will be of use, I shall not be disposing of you yet."

"Oh brilliant, delayed death. I guess we all die one day. Right?" She really did confuse him in a way no one had ever done before. He chuckled to himself.

"I forgot you're immortal. Well there must be a way for you to die. Let's face it you've tried to kill Thor, so you Gods can't be as untouchable as we mere mortals believe."

Once again he was caught off guard. She knew too much about him and he knew too little about her. He'd had Agent Barton tell him all about the Agents that were still working against him, but forgot entirely about the one he had locked up down the corridor. For some reason he'd wanted to find it out for himself rather than invade her privacy and yet here she was invading his without question.

"What is your name?"

"Rose Winters." She surveyed him carefully. "Did you really not know the answer?"

"Ah Agent Winters." To Loki's relief he did know something about her. "You and I are not so different I hear. Agent Barton did mention your history briefly. As I hear you sought revenge and murdered a few people. How can you judge me when you're no better."

"They tortured me!" She slammed her fist on the table standing up. "They deserved it." She snarled.

Loki's eyes lit up. She certainly was different to the others.

"I can understand. Please…" He waved his hand in a motion for her to explain.

"I was at university in England studying medical science. One day during an experiment something went horribly wrong. The equipment we were working on exploded. The dry ice we were using to cool one of the chemicals spilt all over me. I should have had frost burn all over me but wherever the ice had touched had turned blue."

Loki froze his eyes widening. She didn't notice as she was in a world of her own now and continued.

"Of course when we saw that, we were all baffled. I'd never been good with heat but this was entirely new. I agreed for them to run some tests and work out what was wrong with me. What a stupid idea." She shook her head the anger welling up again.

"As soon as I'd agreed they locked me away, treated me like a monster. They had no concern for how much they were hurting me. People who were once my friends now tested their theories on me and it didn't matter if they had ethical approval or not as I wasn't human to them." Angry tears had formed and she swiped a stray one from her cheek.

"I managed to escape, it was a fluke they'd forgotten to lock me away that night. I don't know how I did it, I was so angry everything was a bit of a blur but I killed them, all of them. Even people not directly involved. That was when S.H.E.I.L.D picked me up."

Loki watched as another tear rolled down her cheek. She couldn't be. It wasn't possible. Surely he would have known, would have felt it? He knew there was something different but he thought it was her defiance. Not the idea that she could also be a Frost Giant. He shook his head. She was too tiny to be one. He was considered small and he still towered above her.

"What do you remember of your childhood?" His words came out frantically. Rose looked up at him, confusion spread across her face. "Perhaps it could explain your condition."

"My condition?" She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. He wasn't the one experimenting on her. She needed to calm. "Sorry."

"No I apologise, I did not mean to make it out as something bad."

"As far as I know I am an orphan. I was sent from home to home as a child before moving in with a friend at sixteen." She paused for a moment opening her mouth to say something but stopping.

"Are you okay?" She finally blurted out. "It's just your usually pale but you're ghostly right now and I don't know if you've noticed your mouth is hung open. It doesn't seem like you." Her brows were furrowed as she watched him.

"I… uh…" He shook his head. "Have you heard of the Frost Giants?"

"Sort of. Aren't you one?" Loki nodded slowly.

"I think you might be one too."

_**So first off thank you to everyone who reviewed and what not. I really appreciate it! Secondly I hope you enjoy it. I had an idea of Roses back story but it kind of came to me while writing that I should make her a Frost Giant! Seemed to fit somehow! And finally have a wonderful day/ night x**_


	3. A Promise

_**Thank you so much for the favourites etc. I'm really enjoying writing this, getting all my Loki feels out! So without further ado here is the next chapter. Enjoy! X**_

"W-what? I can't be. I- I'm human. I'm from earth I'm not from… wherever it is you're from. And look at me! I'm no giant! That's ridiculous." Her eyes were wide with shock while her brows furrowed with confusion.

"It's okay." Loki reached over the table placing his hand gently on hers. If she truly were a Frost Giant he would have an ally. Perhaps they would even rule the earth together? "We can figure this out, I'll help you."

"You were going to kill me a few moments ago. Now you realize I'm a monster too you're going to help me? HOW! By making me as twisted as you?" Her anger had got the better of her again as she spat the words at him. Loki moved his hand away quickly and stood up. His jaw stiffened as he scowled down at her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Please forgive me. I just… I don't understand." She looked up at him helplessly, her eyes full of questions. In that moment he saw himself screaming at Odin to tell him the answers he so desperately needed and for the first time in a very long while he wanted to help. With no gain or ulterior motive of his own. Perhaps it would be possible to stop her being completely consumed by this, as he had been.

"I forgive you." He walked around to her and knelt by her side taking her hand again. "I must go to Germany, there is something I require. When I return I will help you in every way I can. You must promise to stay here though. I will ensure you are treated well." For the God of Lies he was being brutally honest, there were no tricks here.

Rose nodded and impulsively threw her arms around his neck. Loki stiffened in surprise. It had been so long since someone had hugged him. As she began to move away he wrapped his arms around her waist drawing her closer, revelling in the comfort of having someone simply hold him.

They continued to hold each other for quite a while, until Agent Barton announced they were ready to depart. Loki nodded standing up and kissing the back of Roses hand gently. She gripped it holding him where he was.

"Be careful." She said simply before letting him go. Why she was worried about a Gods safety was beyond her, and an evil one at that. But she was. Loki flashed that dazzling grin of his before leaving with Clint.

She sat for a couple of hours, processing everything that had just happened. She could run, report back to S.H.E.I.L.D. Report what? She knew nothing other than the fact she could be an alien. That would help no one. Then there was the fact she sort of wanted to stay with him. What if she was a Frost Giant? He could help, he'd be the only one to understand and perhaps she could help him too. Find a way to get rid of the bitterness that devoured his heart.

So that was it? After a couple of minutes of conversation she was ready to betray those who had stood by her for years? No. No she wasn't betraying them. She wouldn't help his scheme. If anything she were trying to stop it and the moment he stepped out of line she would fight him. It seemed rationale enough to her; she wished she could speak to Tony or Steve. No not Steve, he's far too pure. Rose would never want him to look upon her in that way. Hell, she didn't want any of them to but they'd give her advice. They'd know what was right.


	4. A revelation of Sentiment

After getting a bit more to eat she headed to see what was happening with the Tesseract. On the side she saw her earpiece from S.H.E.I.L.D. Everyone was so busy working they'd never notice if she used it. Placing it in her ear she pressed down to start talking but as she opened her mouth nothing came out.

She'd made a promise to stay. As soon as she let the others know she was alive, and not being mind controlled, they'd send someone to get her. He may be the villain here, but she never broke her promises. No matter who they were with. And with that she placed it back on the counter top and started to wonder around the base.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been walking for when Selvig came to get her.

"We need to go." He said simply, pulling her along with him.

"Why what's happened?" She followed, but even so he didn't let go.

"Our master has been captured, you must go and help free him." He shoved her into an aircraft and walked away.

"Wait!" Rose had no idea what she needed to do. How would she free him? Where was he? She looked over to see Clint sat opposite her and sighed. "I do wish you were in your right mind you know." She muttered to herself.

"I am." Clint replied. Whoops, he'd heard her then.

"No you're not. You're not the Clint I know and love. If it was my life or Loki's who would you save?"

"Loki's." He said without any hesitation.

"Exactly." She knew it wasn't really Clint talking, but even so that stung a little.

They arrived at the S.H.E.I.L.D base a few hours later and Clint directed them all inside pointing the way for Rose to go to find Loki. She ran through the seemingly endless corridors and ran smack into Tony, in his Iron Man suit. She went flying backwards hitting the floor.

"Rose? What the hell?" He helped her up pulling her into a giant hug.

"Ow! Tony… you're crushing me." She giggled a little as he placed her down.

"My bad. You're alive! Look I'd love to talk but engines down gotta go save us all. You know how it is." He winked kissing her cheek and running off. She smiled watching him leave before coming back to her senses. If the engines were down she needed to hurry.

She ran into the room that held Loki just in time to see the cage fall from the sky.

"NO!" She screamed running towards the edge. "LOKI!"

"Rose?" Loki looked over at her moving away from the control panel. She turned to see Phil slumped against the wall and Loki standing in front of her. Her emotions went wild. From relief and happiness at seeing Loki alive to despair on seeing Phil so badly injured.

"What the hell happened?" She ran to Phil's side inspecting his wound. It was bad.

"You'll never win you know." He said to Loki. She didn't listen to the rest of their conversation as Phil held onto her hand and she tried her hardest to remember any of the first aid she knew that could help him. The sound of him firing the gun at Loki pulled her back to her senses to see Loki being blasted out of the room.

"So that's what it does." He smiled. "You're alive." He turned to her holding her hand tighter.

"Yes, yes I am. Oh Phil please don't die." She tried to keep herself calm but tears were streaming down her face.

"I'll try." He smiled weakly. "Go catch Loki. Don't let him get away. Okay?" She nodded kissing his cheek and running through the rubble. Loki was nowhere to be seen. Following the corridor she ran as fast as she could seeing no sign of him. As she turned the corner a hand flew out and slammed her against the wall. Loki came out from his hiding place about to swing his staff and hit his follower. When he saw Rose he dropped it and leant down to her.

"Are you hurt? I did not realise it was you following me." He lifted her chin gently to look at her. She groaned in pain.

"I'm fine. You have one hell of a swing on you though!" She smiled at him getting up with his help.

"Why are you here? I thought you were going to stay." He picked up his staff avoiding her gaze.

"Clint brought me with him to free you." She moved closer to Loki, holding his arms gently and looking up at him. "I did stay." He smiled taking her hand and leading her back to the aircraft, which took off leaving Clint behind this time.

Rose sat examining the God in front of her, checking for any sign of serious injury when she noticed the blood coating the top of his staff. Looking down at her hands and the blood that covered them from Phil's wound tears began to well in her eyes.

"Tell me that's not Phil's blood… tell me you weren't the one that killed him." She looked up at him, her face full of despair and sorrow. Loki looked away cleaning off the blood. "Oh god." She whispered. "Why! He was a good man he didn't deserve that!"

"He threatened me." Loki said quietly still not able to look up at her.

"And so you impale him?" She was shouting at him now. Phil was such a wonderful person, and now he could be dead.

"I did not know what the weapon he had would do. Neither did he... It was within the moment that I acted. I could not think of another way to stop him… I did not think it through."

He knew there was red on his ledger, as Agent Romanoff had described it. There were times when he did regret hurting someone, usually when he sat and thought about the aftermath of his actions. Which is why he had stopped thinking about it. But when Rose was sat so distraught at his actions he had no other option but to face it.

"I apologize. I know that does not make up for my actions, but I am also aware there is nothing I can do that will." Finally he met her gaze. The heartbroken look on her face made him flinch. "Please forgive me." His words had come out a little more desperate than he had hoped, but he didn't want to loose the one person that could understand and accept him.

"I can't." Rose whispered. "At least not right now. At some point I will though." She moved over to sit next to him taking his hand. "And thank you for your apology."

Loki sighed with relief. She was not lost to him. As he looked down into her tear filled eyes a strange compulsion overwhelmed him. He wanted to prove himself to her, not in the same way he had wanted to compete with Thor in order to prove himself to Odin. But he wanted to prove that he could care for her, that he would not hurt her in this way again.

Gently he wiped away her tears, resting his hands on her cheeks. Then, ever so slowly, he leant in and kissed her.


	5. Seeing the Monster

_**Before we get to chapter 5 I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who's reading and a special thank you to RosettaRose who has left such lovely comments on every chapter! I really appreciate it xxx**_

Roses eyes widened as their lips touched. It was strange how all her anger, fear, everything, just faded away. At that moment all that mattered was the man sat beside her.

Loki felt her arms wrap around his neck and pulled her closer. He had kissed before, his bad boy reputation had done him some good in Asgard, but they had been meaningless. And none of them felt like this. This could be dangerous; he was getting far too attached to this mortal. Was he to be turned soft, as Thor had been by that woman all those years ago? Quickly he moved away.

The pair sat in silence, trying to come up with something to say. Rose mentally kicked herself for letting her anger go so easily, while Loki thought over how he could help this woman without being compromised.

"Sir we've arrived." The pilot broke the silence lowering them onto Stark tower.

"Why are we here?" Rose walked over to Selvig looking confused. "What are you doing?"

"Well to begin with we will determine if you are a frost giant or not." He smiled moving Selvig away for a moment.

"And then what?" Rose examined the equipment, what was he up to?

"We will get to that part later." He took her hand leading her right up to the Tesseract and picking it up slowly. As he held onto it his skin slowly turned blue. When he looked down at her again his eyes were a brilliant red. Rose gasped and stepped back.

"What happened?" Her eyes darted about, taking in his new look.

"This is how a Frost Giant usually appears. " He held it out to her. "Do not be frightened, it will not harm you. I promise."

Suddenly she didn't want answers. She tried to quieten her mind to get some sort of decision made, but so many thoughts were swirling about at once it was impossible to get any sort of coherence. Slowly she moved towards him and with a deep breath took the Tesseract and closed her eyes in anticipation for… she wasn't exactly sure.

She heard Loki's sharp intake of breath and opened her one eye slowly to look at him. He was staring at her in awe. Very gradually she looked down to see her arms were now a brilliant blue, as Loki's had been moments ago. Her jaw dropped.

Loki watched as she stared at her arms before looking up at him wide eyed, a look of complete shock pasted on her face.

"How?" Was all she could manage to breath out, it wasn't even a fully formed word.

"I do not know." Loki replied. "But we can find out, some how." Suddenly he remembered destroying Jotunheim and for the first time regretted this decision. There must be a way to find out how she came to Midgard, it is very unusual. Someone must have known.

He looked up to see Rose holding the Tesseract out to him.

"Take it. Please." Her hands shook and as soon as he had taken it she fell to the floor. Loki passed it quickly to Selvig before going and sitting next to Rose who proceeded to lean on him.

"What is wrong? Did it hurt you? It should not have done." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder letting her put all her weight onto him. Her body was still trembling.

"No, no… I…" She kept moving her mouth trying to form words. "It's a lot to take in. Everything has been so quiet for years. Then you come along and within two weeks so much has happened."

Loki chuckled a little before picking her up and taking her down for a glass of water. Rose felt weird being at Tony's place with the enemy, but as she was now an alien, was she the enemy too?

As Loki went out onto the balcony Rose started to panic. She was a monster, she'd always known something was different but it was official now. How would Tony react? And Steve? All of them, they'd been so kind, to a monster.

She was still Rose though. Just because she maybe wasn't born on Earth, or her entire body could change colour didn't change who she was. Slowly she stopped shaking and managed to collect herself and looked out at Loki.

Is that what he'd thought when he'd found out? She guessed he didn't have any support though, and perhaps he had missed out on the epiphany that it doesn't change you… actually there was no perhaps about it. He'd definitely missed that memo.


End file.
